This proposal is for funding a 2 + day conference on "Molecular Mechanisms in Central Auditory Functional Diversity & Plasticity". The purpose is to present recent developments in this new exciting area of research and to generate discussions, identify areas of consensus and, where there is a disagreement, to engender correlation between results from different approaches. It will also provide opportunity for interactions between investigators leading to new ideas, new approaches and potential collaborations. The conference is planned for June 1999 in a resort/conference center (during the off season) in Park City, Utah (35 minutes from the international airport at Salt Lake City). There will be approximately 40 invited speakers, including three from outside the auditory field talking about molecular mechanisms, functional diversity and plasticity, respectively, and two speakers lecturing about molecular genetics. There will also be six international speakers. These invited speakers will form a core audience with an estimated fifty additional participants to be drawn from publicity mailings to the membership of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology and the Society for Neurosciences. The meeting will consist of presentations by invited speakers, and a poster session. The first part of the meting will focus on presenting and discussing the molecular mechanism underlying neurotransmission in the central auditory system and how these molecular mechanisms shape individual neuronal response properties. There will then be a session on the molecular genetics of central auditory function and disorders. The final session will be on the molecular bases of central auditory plasticity and disorders such as tinnitus, age-related hearing loss and noise induced hearing loss.